the new admiral
by Rangerfan58
Summary: ok so the title is pretty much what the story is about and i really need people to tell me if i need to up the rating this time otherwise go to profile to understand my rating system
1. the adventure begins with a blast

_I don't own Star Trek but this is one of two stories I'm trying to get published into actual books and I don't own characters you recognize_

The ensign was working frantically to get everyone evacuated before the bombs went off. She had personally made sure to give the evacuation code for starbase 239, and then started to direct people to either the escape shuttles or to transporter areas so that the ships that had volunteered to get people off the station could get people. Unknowingly for the ensign she would be the only person to get off that station in a lone escape pod because only one pod worked, and all personnel on both the station and the starships that were docked there were agreed that the ensign that had tried to save everyone that she could would be the one to survive the tragedy. In the meantime she was looking for her captain and finally found him.

"Captain Anegal we need to get to the escape shuttles now"

"ensign Jewel only one person can escape this all the escape shuttles and all but one pod are non functional and the ships can't escape in time"

"then that person has to be you captain"

The captain knocks the ensign out with a hypospray before she could protest and puts her in the pod.

"sorry ensign but it's been decided that you would be the one to survive this tragedy goodbye ensign and good luck"

With ensign Jewel safely inside the pod the captain pushes the button that released the pod from the station. Moments later the station exploded with all personnel inside and one pod outside transmitting an emergency beacon so that it could be found by other ships in the area that were friendly. Two hours later a Vulcan observation ship found the pod and her inside it still out cold.

"Captain that pod is transmitting an emergency distress signal, on a Federation frequency, it looks to be automated"

"life signs Lt?"

"one life sign sir"

"beam them directly to sickbay they may be injured, and ensign try to maneuver around this debris field whatever it was caused by"

"aye sir"

and so ensign Jewel was beamed directly to sickbay and the Vulcan doctor was a little shocked to see a Starfleet officer. Two hours later she woke up to the faces of the doctor and Captain.

"hello I am Captain T'lan of the Vulcan observation ship T'vral"

"ensign Jewel formerly of starbase 329"

"formerly ensign?"

"yes Captain, if I could talk to Starfleet command I'll explain everything to both at once"

And so they went to the bridge and contacted Starfleet command and the answering officer was obviously annoyed

"look I'm not trying to be rude but would you please make whatever you need quick we have a bit of an emergency on our hands with-"

"with the loss of communication with starbase 239? I know, I am the sole survivor of that base"

"what do you mean sole survivor?"

"ah forgive me ensign Jewel reporting in after surviving the destruction of starbase 239, I can give you a full report within the hour but basically the base was somehow blown up"

"what do you mean blown up ensign?"

"sir what I mean is that the base was laced with bombs that we could not have defused, most certainly not all of them before they all went off, so instead of trying to do that I started the evacuation procedure and was trying to get my commanding officer off the starbase when I was somehow knocked unconscious"

the responding officer just gave a defeated sigh

"understood ensign if we could have your coordinates we can get the nearest starship to you to get you back to earth for reassignment"

"aye sir"

And so five days later the T'vral rendezvoused with the _USS FEREGUTE _and ensign Jewel was beamed aboard the ship for the trip back to earth. Two weeks later she was at her new assignment on starbase 172.

She met her new captain at 1500 hours exactly as her orders told her unfortunately they would get off to a rough start and it would only get worse. And so for two years she was on that starbase though there was a brief stint on DS9, though she never got promoted, when after two years with a Captain that she argued with constantly she got a full explanation as to what had happened to the base she had previously served on.

"basically ensign if you had found the one bomb that could stop all of them you would have been able to save the entire base and still be with them now"

"thank you for telling me sir"

a few days later the _Enterprise_ docked and unknowingly for Jewel she was about to be transferred onto that ship.

"Captain I don't think you understand something she does not take to orders well in fact a few days ago I had to write her up for disobeying a direct order when she went into the docking bay"

"that doesn't matter to me Captain I have her transfer orders right here and I intend to obey them good day"

and so for three years Jewel served aboard the _Enterprise_ when one day they docked at station 135 for some routine maintenance and upgrades not knowing that her past was about to catch up to her. They were staying on board the ship when Data spoke up.


	2. reunions, trouble and rescue plans

"captain I am getting an unusual energy signature?"

"where Data?"

"it appears to be all around us sir"

"what type of signature?"

"it matches those of the _USS Lansum_ sir when they were scanning the debris of starbase 239"

Jewel panicked for a bit then speaks up just then

"did you just say it matched the energy signature left by the explosion of starbase 239 sir?"

"yes ensign I did"

Jewel does a quick scan from her station and tags the one she feels is the bomb that could stop all of the others

"Captain request permission to get into a pressure suit and go into the space dock"

"absolutely not and even if I didn't object to something in the first place why would you want to do that?"

"so that I can deactivate the bombs sir"

"what are you talking about ensign?"

"I'll explain everything in private sir"

"very well in my ready room"

and so that's exactly where they go where Jewel explains what she now knew about the bombs though she doesn't state how she knew about them as that was classified top secret unless absolutely necessary

well starbase 135 was in trouble someone had set explosives in the docking bay and the doors wouldn't open what was worse was that if they deactivated the wrong device all of them would detonate and not many knew it

"now are you sure you can do this ensign?" asked Picard

"not entirely Captain" said Jewel

"then why are you doing this?"

"because I'm the only one who has a chance sir"

"but why ensign? I don't understand"

"do you remember the day you took me in to your crew?"

"yes I was told you had authority problems and you did have problems obeying my orders"

"well days earlier I had just saved the entire station even after I had received orders to leave the bombs alone, that they were fake but I knew better because…we had lost base 239 two years earlier to the same thing, all stations know me and will obey me"

"how do you know about base 239? no one was supposed to know"

"because I was the sole survivor by captain's choice"

"then good luck Jewel"

and so Jewel puts on a suit goes into the dock and opens a private comlink with the workers

"this is ensign Jewel to all space dock workers get inside immediately" she said with an authoritative voice and then she thought "_at least this way most everyone will be in one spot if I stop the wrong bomb" _

inside the command room a captain was wondering what was going on

"what are they doing?" asked the captain

"unknown sir but one of them is heading toward the doors" said the observer

"unidentified worker what are you doing?"

"this is ensign Jewel Captain one I'm trying to keep the floating bodies down to a minimum if I fail two it's good to hear your voice again sir I thought you died with the others five years ago, Captain if I fail I guess it really is goodbye this time Jewel out"

she cuts communication and the captain tried to contact her and fails so he goes wideband and everyone hears him

"NO!, Jewel don't do this I can't lose anyone else"

Jewel ignores him and observes the bomb she thinks is the key a bit closer and says one final message should she fail

"Captain Picard the past three years have been amazing thank you for them Captain Anegal I'm sorry we have to say goodbye again after having found each other after five years, everyone else I want to apologize should I fail I tried my best but my best wasn't good enough this is Ensign Jewel of the _USS ENTERPRISE_ and starbase 239 signing off"

she cuts communication again and speaks to herself

"OK Jewel let's see if you're right"

and so she slowly starts deactivating process and gets down to a minute and gets to the final wire she needs to pull and closes her eyes and speaks again

"this is it"

she pulls the wire and nothing happens she opens her eyes and sees the timer stopped at ten seconds

"I did it I was right" she opens the comm. System "all hands this is ensign Jewel the station is safe repeat the station is no longer in danger"

on the Enterprise

"she did it" said Riker

"good job Jewel" said Picard

in the command room in the station everyone else was rejoicing as well

"you did it Jewel, you saved everyone"

Jewel went back into the station and is surrounded by a lot of people and five minutes later she sees her first captain for the first time in five long years and Jewel sees some of the scars he gained from the destruction of base 239 and he sees how much she's matured and aged and they can't speak for five minutes then Jewel manages while slowly walking toward him in a disbelieving voice

"captain is it really you?"

"yes Jewel it's me"

she runs toward him and just hugs him tightly like if she let go he would disappear

"I thought you were dead, I thought, I thought you had been killed with the rest when the base exploded"

"I know Jewel I know"

he was still comforting her when Picard manages to make his way through the crowd

"Captain Anegal I was wondering if you could tell me how you know my ensign and what she was talking about on an open frequency I would appreciate it"

"I know her because she started her Starfleet career with me as for what she was talking about it's as much her story as it is mine so we'll wait until she's awake to tell the story"

"we could beam over to the Enterprise if you like"

"thank you"

and so two hours later Jewel was awake and they were in the conference room just the three of them

"OK first thing you have to understand Captain is that there are going to be discrepancies in stories for one thing everything happened pretty fast for another we were doing two different things" said Jewel

and so they started having decided to switch back and forth with Jewel starting out

"_well we were at Red Alert and practically everyone was in a panic except the captain"_

_"Jewel was pretty calm too anyways I sent Jewel to try and disable the bombs"_

_"which I figured I couldn't do so I told the Captain that and that there was only five minutes left and the next thing I know I was in a sickbay"_

_"well I knocked her out apologizing while at it and I put her in the pod we were right net to and pushed the button a minute before the explosion"_

_"well some time later an observation ship picked me up having received the pods distress signal and once I was up I found out it was a Vulcan ship so after I spoke with the Captain briefly I reported what had happened to Starfleet Command where a ship was immediately sent to scan the remains while I reported back to earth for reassignment"_

_"well the ship scanned the debris and found my life signature which was barely there so I was teleported immediately to sickbay where after emergency care I was put into stasis to keep me alive. I woke up months later in a medical center and was told that I was the sole survivor the center not being informed of Jewel so I grieved for two solid months thinking I had failed in my attempt to save Jewel. Two years later I was sent to my new post and that was when Starfleet Command informed me that Jewel was alive"_

they then go back to present tense

"and so I stayed put and served faithfully never thinking I would see Jewel again"

"and of course you know I was under a single minded captain who didn't like me before serving you for the past three years"

"when I heard of your docking I didn't dare hope she was still with you when the emergency happened"

"of course as you know captain I had a mini panic moment thinking back five years ago and then I came up with the crazy plan that worked"

"and when I heard Jewel's voice I was overjoyed and worried at the same time thinking back five years ago"

"OK I an understand all of that and the story but how did you know about one bomb deactivating all of them ensign?" asked Picard

"because of the communiqué Starfleet Command received three weeks after the base was destroyed"

"they never told me that but then I _was_ captain of the base that exploded so it was probably for my own safety" said Anegal

"hey captain were you forlorn on the anniversary as well?" asked Jewel

"yes but I explained it to my people as soon as I met them so they would understand, why?"

Picard and Jewel give each other a knowing look and then Jewel answers

"because I didn't and it got me in trouble with captain Picard and commander Riker my first year"

she thinks back three years ago

"_ensign Jewel you're late to your shift" said Riker_

_"leave me alone commander"_

_"ensign do not make me write you up for insubordination remove the lock _now"

_well Jewel ignores him and Riker has to all security to override the lock and Jewel is taken to the brig and waits for captain Picard to come and talk with her_

_"why did you lock your room ensign?" asked Picard_

_Jewel ignores him_

_"ensign if you don't talk to me I can't help you"_

_"my old captain he died two years ago"_

_"ensign you had a captain at the station"_

_"I don't consider him my captain"_

_"you're talking about another captain aren't you"_

_"yes I am"_

_"ensign I don't know about your career before the one before mine because your records are sealed but while I'll allow you some mourning time I have to require you to attend to your duties am I understood?" said captain Picard_

_"yes captain"_

_an so she starts listening to Picard and serves faithfully but every year she ends her shift just a bit earlier than others but nobody said anything because the captain allowed it_

they end their story and then her former captain speaks up

"well it seems that you've had an interesting five years ensign"

"yes captain I have"

suddenly Anegal's comm. Badge chimes

"this is Anegal go ahead"

"captain a _USS FERRENAL_ is requesting permission to dock"

both Jewel and Anegal are shocked and exclaim at the same time

"the Ferrenal?"

"yes sir what's your response?"

"permission granted and tell the captain I want to meet with him ASAP"

"yes sir"

and so communications are cut and Jewel speaks to Anegal

"I wonder if any of the others survived?"

"me too"

Picard speaks up

"what's going on here?"

"captain the Ferrenal was one of the ships at base 239 when it was destroyed"

suddenly Anegal's communicator chimes again

"captain we have a minor correction the Ferrenal is declaring itself as the flagship of the survivors of base 239 and that there are fifteen other ships with it"

"they all survived captain"

"um we don't have the capacity to hold all of them not to mention they're no longer in the system as they were supposed to be destroyed five years ago"

Picard gives them a solution

"my ship can go to Earth and Jewel can use a shuttle we'll leave behind for that purpose"

"yes that will work thank you captain"

and so two hours alter everyone from base 239 had a meeting to give updates and be updated

"looks like we've missed a lot in the past five years" said the captain of the Ferrenal

"yes you have" replied Jewel "all of us have missed things in the past five years"

"we can make it possible for you to report in" said Anegal "that way in a little bit you can be back in the system and your families that are on Earth that were told of your death can be told you're alive"

and that's what they do and then before Jewel could get to the shuttle to get to Earth they received news of Picard's, Dianna's, Data's and Crusher's "deaths" at the hands of Cardassians and Anegal who was with her gives her his condolences

"sorry for your loss Jewel"

"I have to go captain they're going to need me"

the captain of the Ferrenal doesn't understand why and speaks up

"but what can you do? you're just an ensign"

"when something like this happens it's all hands on deck plus since I'm the only person on the Enterprise that's dealt with major loss I made up a plan two years ago should we lose more than two people and at least two of them are vital and we just lost the captain, the counselor, our navigator, _and_ the doctor in one blow trust me they need me even if it's just to take over Lt. commander Data's spot"

"be careful ensign" said Anegal not wanting to lose her again

well days later Jewel made it to the Enterprise and Riker was flooded with relief

"ensign we need to know which plan to activate"

"take me to the bridge I'm navigating until further notice this is part of plan C-39 I believe you know the rest of it"

"OK let's do it"

they get to the bridge and speak up at the same time

"bridge"

they get there and Jewel says something in an authoritative voice

"Ro move I'm in charge until further notice"

"one I was commissioned before you and two my shift…"

Riker takes over

"is over ensign it's part of plan C-39"

"oh OK I didn't know it's all yours ensign"

Jewel gets into place and does some basic things and then waits for further instructions

which Riker gives after explaining a few things

"OK we have four people dead they were killed by Cardassians during a meeting with some Dominion representatives that ship is currently being tracked by Captain Chakotay and Admiral Janeway on Voyager we don't know why they were killed but it could be because they're important to the flagship of the Federation. Ensign heading is 359 mark 12 warp 5"

"heading 359 mark 12 warp 5 ready sir"

"engage"

three hours later they met up with Voyager

"Admiral is there anything else you can tell us?"

"I'm afraid not commander we lost their trail two hours after we contacted you sorry for not telling you but we attempted to find their trail again"

Riker sighs "thanks for trying Admiral but it looks like we'll just have to declare this a failed mission"

Jewel speaks up remembering something that could help "commander that might not be needed"

"what do you mean ensign?"

"remember last year when we were forced to shut Data down due to a virus?"

"what about it?"

"well they took their bodies according to reports right?"

"yes what about it and the virus?"

"Data finally has a tracking device on him unless they found it and destroyed it I can still track him"

Janeway butts in "wait you're saying you can pick up the trail again?"

"yes Admiral I am"

"do it" said Riker "lets see if we can find them"

and so two weeks later they made it to Romulus and Jewel and Riker are both confused and ask one question in unison

"Romulus?"

Jewel then gets a crazy idea that she knows would work for the most part

"OK I know how to contact ambassador Spock I'll beam down as a civilian"

Riker doesn't believe her and confronts her on it "what are you going to do ensign?"

"get into a fight about Romulans and Vulcan's becoming one what else"

Riker goes into a warning tone of voice "ensign…"

"commander I haven't done something like this in ages besides I can't ask for him in public it will work trust me"

and so ten minutes later Jewel was surrounded by security when a Romulan stepped up

"this person is obviously a foreigner let me educate them"

"very well T'lan"

and so T'lan takes Jewel underground

"what are you doing saying stuff like that?"

"I need to speak with ambassador Spock about a matter of great importance and this is the only way I can"

suddenly Spock shows up

"T'lan who is this person?"

"a civilian that got into trouble she says she needs to speak with you"

"who are you and why have you come?"

"I'm ensign Jewel I have come here because at least one of our dead crewman is here"

"who all are dead?"

"Lt. commander Data, counselor Troi, doctor Crusher and captain Picard sir of the Enterprise"

"captain Picard's death is not possible for two reasons"

"what for?"

"one I have mind melded to the captain so I would have a general sense of his death second though many don't know it yet the Cardassians have taken over Romulus and have threatened to kill the captain if Starfleet does not comply to their demands stating that they have already killed the other officers even though that is not true"

"how do the Romulans not know that?"

"I have screened all messages for their protection but I think it is time that they know about the Cardassians"

"live broadcast?"

"naturally"

"we get the captain while your people get the others?"

"yes but your crew is with them"

"I'll inform commander Riker then"

"main building will do"

"9 o'clock"

"yes it gives us fifteen minutes"

"lots of noise?"

"most likely"

"lets do it then"


	3. the rescue and new trouble

and so the next day they split into two teams first Riker's team has success

"Data, Dianna, Beverly you in here?"

Data replies in a _weak_ voice "over here commander"

They get to the cell and all three are a mess and Riker wonders how Data was even able to talk

"OK let's get these guys out of here Riker to Enterprise four to beam up"

and so they leave meanwhile Jewel and Spock's team had finally made it to the broadcast room and it was pure chaos and then Jewel shouts

"back off!"

well Spock finally gets the broadcast live to the Romulan people and the Romulans see pure chaos, Jewel was fighting Cardassians still, Spock was using his nerve pinch, their _real_ leaders were helping Jewel who was finally using phasers, a beat up Starfleet officer, and various mini battles with Cardassians in between, plus a single Cardassian making demands to Starfleet, it was definitely pure chaos to those who were watching

"like I have repeatedly said before the other officers are dead you now have twenty-four hours to meet our demands before we kill this one as well"

Jewel as defiant as ever speaks up while fighting off a Cardassian by hand "not if I stop you first"

Well ten minutes later Picard was finally freed and the Cardassians subdued

"finally Jewel to Enterprise two to beam directly to sick bay"

"stand bye" said O'Brian "we have to readjust for all the interference the battle caused"

"standing bye, thanks for your help guys"

the Romulan leader speaks up

"no problem"

finally they were beamed up and the temporary doctor started working on Picard while an aid finished taking care of Crusher and of course they had to wait until station 135 to get Data help and then Picard speaks up

"ensign how did you find us?"

"through Data you see last year when we shut him down due to the virus I put a tracking chip on him just in case he's part of an away team an needs to be found or if we have to deal with another collector who makes us think Data is dead the only way I can't track him is if that chip is destroyed"

well Data tries to talk but is stopped by La Forge with the simple move of putting his hand over Data's mouth

"don't even try Data you'll blow your vocalizer it's that badly damaged"

Jewel asks a very painful question for the group "how did this happen to Data and the rest of you anyways?"

Dianna speaks up "tortured us"

"they did it in front of everyone but Data's was the worst because since he's an android he can handle torture the most none of us talked but the day before you came and rescued us we were told that we were dead to Starfleet and we weren't going to be rescued and they were going to torture us until they were bored with our silence then they were going to kill us. The Romulan leaders actually tried to help us but they were beat twice as bad when they did so they ended up just trying to encourage us"

well they get to the station and Jewel crashes from pure exhaustion while Anegal and Picard talk

"she needs some kind of reward for saving the station and us"

"how about her own ship?"

"that's not going to happen for several more years"

"think again the President heard what she did here and for you guys the ship is in the dock waiting for her"

"so she's going to be a captain after at least five years in Starfleet"

"nine years captain and she's not a captain she's an admiral"

"put her where the Enterprise is?"

"of course"

"not tell her until she's on the ship?"

"naturally"

"crew on standby?"

"at their stations"

"name of the ship?"

"_USS JEWEL_"

"perfect"

three hours later they were all set and Data was completely repaired

"so we ready to go?" asked Jewel not knowing about her promotion and also wanting to go back into space so that she could continue exploring it even though she almost lost some of her crewmates

"yes" said the others having been in on the secret and very excited for her and so they get to the bridge and Jewel sees a data pad where she would normally sit with one message

"look behind you"

she does and sees another data pad on the captains seat she picks up the pad and reads it out loud

"by order of the President let what is on the pad be hereby known to all as final say. On this stardate let it be known that for her actions on station 135 and the rescue of four Starfleet officers the following is to happen to ensign Jewel of the Enterprise one she is to be given the rank of admiral immediately following the next proclamation and second she is to be in command of this ship the USS JEWEL until her retirement singed President of the United Federation of Planets"

she finished and is amazed her crew then comes in and she sits down to give her first orders

"ensign take us out"

two weeks later they were exploring a region of space that wasn't as mapped out as others when they suddenly went into warp all were actually knocked out and Jewel woke up first

"damage report Parson" said Jewel but he was still out cold and that's when she saw most of her crew unconscious. A few minutes later they all woke up

"helm where are we?" asked James Jewel's captain

"we are…70,000 lightyears away captain"

"are you telling me we're in the Delta Quadrant Lt.?" asked Jewel hoping it was a mistake

"yes sir I am"

well that stumps everyone seeing as how they didn't know if they could communicate from that distance even with the latest communication technology

"all right fine if that's the way it is than we'll manage somehow" Jewel opens ship wide communications "all hands this is the admiral speaking, we have somehow been transported to the Delta Quadrant with that being the case our primary goal is survival once we know we can accomplish that relatively easily we will make our way home however we will not be out of contact like Voyager was but remember the messages still have to be short for right now we need to get basic systems running so I want you to assess each of your stations and then report back to me admiral out"

and so a few days later Jewel had a full assessment

"hey James it's been about twelve years since Voyager came back do you think Neelix could still be here?" asked Jewel thinking back to all the stories she heard in the academy

"I don't see why not"

well a few days later Neelix actually contacted them and the crew was amazed that he had managed because communication was still an area with problems

"who are you people with familiar uniforms?" asked Neelix having never expected to see Starfleet officers again

"I am admiral Jewel of the Federation Starship Jewel"

"I…Neelix how can I…day"

"come aboard our ship and guide us part way home"

"can…peat…that"

suddenly communications are lost

"transporter room one to beam directly to the bridge"

finally Neelix was on board and a few hours later they were on their way

"so how is the crew of the Voyager?"

"doing good far as I know, I haven't seen them personally really but every Starfleet cadet learns about them and their journey home. There are various stories on all the crew like Kes the one who gave her life to cut 10 years off their journey or something funny about Neelix their Talaxian cook and there are so many more stories about everyone like how Janeway was the brave captain who held the crew together and Lt. Barcaley the honorary member who risked everything to get in contact with Voyager and too many others to remember"

"it's good to know I'm remembered"

"and get this Seven actually teaches quantum mechanics at the academy"

"Starfleet actually trusts her?"

"yes but not without a fight with the Voyager crew and her husband standing up for her, the academy was closed for a year because of it, but finally they agreed to a years probation and she was and still probably is the best teacher for that class"

well three months later Jewel's crew made some new if weird friends

"are you sure about this Admiral I mean we don't know anything about this species" said James obviously concerned for the crews safety

"yes James I am I have met with them privately several times and Neelix says it's OK to trust them"

unfortunately they quickly learned that they couldn't trust all species that came in peace as a few weeks later they made their first enemies

"Admiral shields are down to forty percent and dropping"

"helm try and get us out of here"

"negative sir the controls are not responding"

"OK Parson try and get these guys with phasers"

well they finally get away but with heavy damage and the loss of two guests and so a few hours later the crew had a ship wide meeting

"as you all know we were attacked a few hours ago so what do we do about it?"

"well, we could try and develop some new weaponry" said an ensign in engineering who was mostly in charge of making sure that they could contact Starfleet as they had managed it only two days earlier yet as an officer felt compelled to know everything about the ship just in case and got some ideas from looking at the schematics

"ensign we can't just develop weapons and hope they work we aren't in the Alpha Quadrant any more it's just too risky" said the chief engineer annoyed at the suggestion "I'm sorry Admiral but…"

"no explain your idea further ensign I don't care how crazy it is what do you think we can develop that won't take a lot of testing?"

"well we could modify some torpedoes to emit some kind of pulse and maybe modify the phasers to emit sonic waves or something I don't know"

"you know that's not such a bad idea do it and ensign since this is your pet project you're in charge of it I want regular progress reports am I clear?"

"yes sir"

well some time later they make it to the one year mark of being in the Delta Quadrant and that was when the ensign decided to reveal his new weapons which had been completed a few weeks earlier but when he realized how close he was to the one year anniversary he decided to wait until then since it would be a wonderful way to celebrate one years of survival


	4. new weapons, enemies, comm wstarfleet

"everyone I know that we've been here for a year and well I have something special for this landmark"

"ensign you know that you can't do anything you projected the project taking at least two more months and it's not all that unreasonable seeing as how we've been on our toes constantly"

"actually admiral I sort of lied in the report you see I have a prototype completely ready but when I finished it and realized how close it was to the anniversary I decided to wait to unveil the new weapons until today as a way of giving us some hope"

"do it"

"launching pulse torpedo, now"

he launched the torpedo and it was an amazing site the asteroid it was aimed for was missed or so they thought because suddenly it was in a lot of pieces

"ensign what was that we just saw?"

"basically it's a light pulse combined with the equivalent of a grenade back in the twenty-first century"

"nice so anything on the phasers yet?"

"actually yes phasers locked and ready now"

the phaser hit the next asteroid and a few seconds later it stopped but they only saw minor damage to the asteroid

"ensign I guess the weapons needs some more work"

"actually Admiral the phaser worked perfectly"

"what do you mean?"

"easy sir what you saw was the sonic phaser it's not intended to destroy a ship merely to disable it using sonic pulses in tiny bursts that are just as powerful as maybe one of the non nuclear bombs old America used in the same time period as the grenades"

"impressive I'd say the weapons are a success keep the sonic phasers active and start making more of those pulse torpedoes who knows when we will need them"

"aye sir"

well a few months later they got utterly beaten by a new enemy who some how knew how to cloak their ships

"what now admiral we got beaten by cloaked ships"

"I know James for now we are in full retreat mode senior staff meeting in one hour plus the ensign that made our newest weapons is that clear"

"yes sir"

well during the meeting much was discussed

"we can't just let them beat us because they can cloak can we?" asked the chief engineer

"no but we can't fight them if we can't see them" said the Lt. commander that was in charge of the bridge on occasion

"what about all the people that are already hurt we could actually lose people if we're not careful dealing with a cloaked enemy" said the doctor not wanting to lose anyone else

well there were many arguments and no clear answer until Jewel ends it with one sentence

"we're starting cloaked combat mission training tomorrow James make sure that the crew is aware of the change in training"

"yes sir"

the doctor wasn't satisfied though not understanding what was going on

"you can't just put innocent lives at stake sir it's suicide"

"I'm not doctor you see this training is so that they start trying to figure out how to fight an enemy who's cloaked themselves be it here or in the Alpha Quadrant understood?"

"yes sir"

and so they train relentlessly and it actually pays off six months after the training begins they met up with a new species that nobody really knew about them

"this is Admiral Jewel on the Starship Jewel who are you people?"

"we are the Velnron we will destroy you in five blows or less"

"really?, Lt. would you fire the sonic phasers please?"

"yes sir"

well it doesn't work and then the ship cloaks

"sir they have a cloaking shield I can't detect him any longer it looks like we're gonna have to…."

The officer stops for a moment thinking about what he had just said

"sir would now be a good time to try our training?"

"yes it is Lt."

and so they try and fight the enemy with there new training skills and while it isn't entirely effective it does keep them alive

well the second year in the quadrant was not as good as the first one but it was better than initially especially since they now had a practically indestructible communication system with Starfleet

"admiral I'm still not sure about you guys being so far away from home" said Barcaley having been the one to receive the call this time

"I know Lt. but you know very well that it's not our fault we're doing our best to survive but it might not work"

"understood Admiral good bye and I'll inform the President of your progress"

"thanks"

well they end communications and are attacked just hours later

"ensign attack pattern Beta 9"

"aye sir"

well the ship cloaks and does some hefty damage before they can get a lock on them

"sir we just lost warp power"

"that's it attack patter Delta 12"

"yes sir"

well they eventually finish the battle but not without major damage

"this is going to take a while to repair"

"yes James it is come on lets get to work"

and so everyone started doing what they could since it had been agreed upon soon after they had been stranded that everyone was to know the systems if not like the back of their hands than at least well enough to make moderate repairs that those that did know the system inside and out could finish what the others couldn't

well they reach a planet that was inhabited and that would let them survive no problem and they were also warp capable as they were actually helping one of their ships get back home since it had been knocked out due to engine trouble and minimal communication abilities unfortunately they would find out that the species wasn't friendly


	5. new enemies, weapons and trouble

"thank you for bringing our ship home we had actually feared it had been destroyed when it lost contact with us"

"it was no problem"

"come it is time for the evening meal why don't you tell us something about yourselves and we'll tell you a little about us"

"why thank you"

and so they eat and talk but what the crew didn't know was that the food was drugged and they promptly went to sleep and while they were asleep they were put into cells

Jewel was actually the first to wake up and since it was like their ship they could see their captures

"why did you imprison us? we helped your people get home"

"oh we know and we do appreciate that but do you know _why_ they needed help to get home, do you know _why_ they were disabled?"

"no we didn't really ask them what happened only if we could render assistance"

"it was because we are always looking to improve ourselves to defeat our enemy and you just so happened to stumble upon them after they had taken heavy damage from a battle they _used_ you to not only get home but to give us technology beyond our wildest dreams"

"why you…"

she tries to get at them and sees that it was indeed a cell with a forcefield so she was basically stuck no matter what she tried

"well this is a sticky bind we've fallen into"

and so they plan for several weeks how to escape hoping that those still on the ship had retreated when the away team hadn't returned on time or called them to let them know a change in plans but of course it was never that simple simply because the crew _hadn't_ retreated. On board the Jewel Lt. Commander Parson was once again taking in input from anyone he could

"OK so we know for a fact now that the away team has been captured"

"yes sir"

"which makes these guys unfriendly"

"exactly"

"OK so what are we going to do about it?"

well everyone thinks and they come up blank until finally an ensign of all people came up with a half decent plan

"what if we make them _think_ we've left the away team than double back and save them?"

"not a bad idea ensign but how would we double back without attracting any attention to ourselves?"

"you've obviously forgotten the Admiral's number one rule when dealing with something like this, always have a two fold plan"

"you're right I did forget it's just that it's been a long time since she's said that and since we've been fighting for survival I haven't really thought about putting a lot of her lessons into practice"

"well we're going to do so now"

and so they finalize the plan and it works beautifully and the away team is rescued without a hitch

"nice work come on lets get out of here and for the record these are non friendlies is that clear?"

"yes sir"

well they were reaching the three year mark when things went down hill

"try and stabilize us ensign"

"no can do admiral all controls are locked"

"is there a place where we can land?"

"yes it looks to be a desert like class M planet and not to be much of a downer it looks to be the only place we can survive"

"all hands prepare for crash landing"

and so they crash land and Jewel is the first to wake up

"anyone awake report"

and so she gets a rudimentary report and finds that she can live with the current situation as could the crew once they found a way to catch the food without scaring it first

"OK Lt. Andelan go back as far as you possibly can in Earth's history and see if you can find us any weapons we can use"

"yes sir"

and so he finds out about bows and arrows and also finds that they are quite easy to make

"Admiral before we go with the plan allow me to see how we are to use these just in case"

"permission granted"

well he was unsuccessful the first day of hunting and initially everyone was a downer until they realized that maybe all they needed to do was practice the new skill

"OK everyone we're going to practice with our new weapons until we're fast enough and skilled enough to use them on the local wildlife but remember while we do need to hunt to eat don't make the wildlife go extinct"

"yes sir"

and so they all get bows and arrows and it takes a few months for them to finally start getting a handle on the weapons but at the same time they were also making repairs and so Jewel decides to check on the engine room and finds that there were problems

"that's _it_ this thing is going in the scrap pile as soon as we get home"

"OK chief what's the problem?"

"the problem is Admiral is that this piece of junk that we call an engine is practically damaged beyond repair"

"keep at it chief I know you can do it after all you know that engine better than anyone else on board this ship see if you can't do something on your end and I'll see about contacting Starfleet command about getting us some help for this engine and while you're at it see how fast we can go once we're fully repaired we might need to start thinking about getting these engines faster in a few years if we're forced to stay here for a bit and then once we're off this planet something goes extremely wrong and it takes us longer than estimated to get home."

"yes sir"

well a few weeks later the chief found that while he couldn't do a thing to fix the engine in his current state of mind and in the current state of the engine he could see what he could salvage and work from there

well they reached the one year anniversary of being stranded on the planet and they had thrived immensely and they noticed that not only were they fast with their bows and arrows but since Jewel refused to let them forget how to use their phasers she found out that they were faster with their phasers as well

"hey Admiral looks like your insistence is paying off we're a lot faster with our phasers than when we didn't have these bows and arrows say can we keep them even after we return home?"

"we'll see ensign we'll see for now lets just concentrate on getting off this planet"

"yes sir"

and so they worked long and hard to get everything repaired and it pays off because for a brief moment three months after the one year mark they were off the ground for a total of five minutes


	6. fights, death and return

"we're getting closer to our goal Admiral"

"indeed we are lets keep up the good work people who knows we may get out of this alive yet"

well they had many set backs one of which happened six months after the one year mark

"Admiral you know the species that stranded us here?"

"yes what about them?"

"well they managed to find our exact location and are now attacking with more than just three ships and what's more is that they have cloaking abilities"

"well this is a load of trouble after all we can't maneuver so our fighting ability is cut down to practically nil, all hands prepare for battle repeat all hands prepare for battle"

well they do prepare for fighting which was a good thing because the enemies decided to board the ship and that meant that they were going to use their skills in a practical way or at least they hoped they could since they had yet to actually fight an enemy with their bows and arrows that could fight back and in engineering well that would turn out to be the fiercest battle on board the ship.

"they don't get any where's near the engine is that clear?"

"yes sir"

"OK then attack"

"hey John watch the left side you idiot we can't afford to lose anyone you know and watch your back as well"

"hey Sara duck"

"yo uglies say hello to my little friend"

"would you _please _watch where you shoot you're likely to damage the engine again"

"hey chief we could use a little more than the bows and arrows right now"

"hey guys we're gonna be in trouble if they keep this up because they might hit the engine and you all know what that means"

"protect the engine with your lives men we can't lose all the work that we've done so far"

"hey creeps get away from those computers"

"Admiral we could use some help up here"

"just a minute they tried to take the bridge and the last one is being a bit stubborn about being captured"

"yo chief looks like we got more coming in from the corridors what are we gonna do to fortify them?"

"just do what you can guys that's all I ask of you right now"

"hey guys they just decided to swarm in think you can give me a hand?"

"watch the back side Mark or you're gonna get yourself killed"

"hey chief think you can do a double team?"

"oh boys look at the tough girl, OK _now_ guys"

"hey guys looks like the reinforcements are a bit bogged down"

"keep it up guys we can do it"

and so that keeps up for several more minutes until the enemy finally decides to call a full retreat and once that's done the chief does a quick overview on everyone and finds that they're all tired and somewhat dirty but alive and the engine and all their work was OK as well. Six months later they made it to the two year mark but something else was happening as well the crew was finally able to go on their way again on the five year anniversary of being sent to the Delta Quadrant they had their engines back up and ready for action to get them back home

"so your engines are fully repaired admiral?"

"yes Lt. Barcaley thanks to you"

"we hope to see you in a couple of years"

"same Jewel out"

well soon after they left some trouble came up while testing some modifications to the engine five crew members were badly hurt and three were thought dead though that wasn't actually the case what had happened was that while they were not testing any kind of cloaking abilities due to the fact that they had seen a lot of it recently and the fact that their ship had been infected with chronitons the three "dead" crewman were actually just Phased

"doctor are the death certificates ready?"

"yes though I don't like these things"

"I know doctor unfortunately that's what happened"

"what should I put on their death certificates for cause of death?"

"tell the truth they died due to testing modifications on the engine and as they were the closest ones were immediately incinerated, how are the others?"

"they'll be fine in a few days I suppose but the chief is taking their loss really hard and who could blame him he's the last one to see them alive"

"yea well I'll be back to check on them later"

"yes sir"

meanwhile the three officers were far from dead instead they were phased and they were _not _happy about their talking not being heard at the moment

"hey guys I have one heck of a headache"

"I know but I was trying to figure out what happened in engineering to make them shut down the engine but I was ignored"

"what's going on why can't they hear us?"

"hey guys remember the story the Admiral told us the one with the chief engineer and an ensign that happened shortly before she was transferred to the ship?"

"you mean we're phased?"

"it's possible"

"great so how are we going to get that across?"

"um that's where I'm stuck"

"hey what about chroniton fields?"

"that'll work once we find out when the service is"

and so the three officers check on the ship and see about any arrangements and finally find out that the service was being held in the dining hall which was the only place what would fit everyone

"if only I knew what was happening I would have saved them"

"it's not your fault chief"

"feels like it is"

"well it isn't is that clear"

"yes sir"

well the officers go and make chroniton fields and the admiral is informed of it

"admiral what are we to do about the fields that have been detected since after the explosion? especially the one in the dining hall"

"what fields?"

"the chroniton fields sir"

"chroniton…set anionic beams to their highest level and flood the ship"

"yes sir"

and so a few minutes later the three officers are visible again

"hey admiral mind if we join?"

"not at all you three, so my story help any?"

"oh yea it helped a lot"

"well I'm glad it did"

"so any food left for us?"

everyone laughed and enjoyed the fact that they hadn't lost the officers after all. well they were in trouble…again the crew was fighting some aliens that had cloaking technology and over a simple misunderstanding of why they were looking for a place that they could land and find some food too


	7. food, warp and multiple attacks

"ensign try the sonic phasers and see if you can't knock out their weapons and once that happens we'll try and open communications again"

"aye sir"

well as it turned out all they needed to do was calm them down with the loss of weapons and then shutting down their weapons as well to make them listen

"it seems we made an error in attacking you"

"I don't blame you we're foreigners in your area and we looked like we were threatening your people when in actuality we were just trying to get some food"

"you are allowed to hunt on our planet if you want just don't touch the endangered species"

"if you'll let us know which ones are endangered and which ones aren't we'll make sure to do so"

and so they hunted some deer like the ones on Earth and a few other things that they were sure weren't poisonous to them and they also were allowed to pick some plants that they knew they could eat from and then they were on their way

"so admiral how long have we been here anyways?"

"five and a half years John, so hopefully we will be able to get back to the Alpha Quadrant soon like with Voyager and only be gone for seven years but if we keep running into trouble it might take us longer."

Well they reached the six year mark and that turned out to be the hardest on all of them.

"admiral we're being attacked by the Velnron again and this time it looks like their in for the kill we might not survive this onslaught"

"just do your best ensign and do plan Delta, Zeta 5 it might be our only hope"

"aye sir"

well they fought for several more hours when suddenly they got some unlikely help from the Tanisan who they helped shortly after entering the Delta Quadrant

"sir it's the Tanisan they're here to help"

"good maybe now we can do some more damage to them"

well they start coordinating their plans and it works they are able to beat the Velnron no problem

"thank you for your assistance but I'm wondering what you are doing so far away from home"

"well we sometimes do trading in this area and we just happened to detect you guys and as we got closer we saw that you were in trouble so we decided to butt in and help"

"well once again thank you we might not have survived had your timely interference not happened"

"no problem"

well a few hours later Jewel went to engineering

"chief we need to get new warp technology ASAP think you can do it?"

"maybe I've been looking into some theories but I might be wrong"

"just do your best is that understood?"

"yes sir"

well after six months he had a tentative new warp engine that could go to warp 12 all they needed to do now was test it

"all right ensign you know the setting warp 12"

"same setting warp 12 aye"

"engage"

well they went faster than ever but then they started getting warning alarms about overheating and a possible breach

"sir we must stop the test or we'll destroy ourselves"

"very well all stop"

"all stop aye"

and so they stopped and just in time too

"now what?"

"I honestly don't know Lt. but we'll figure it out we always do but for now the warp experiment is being shut down and that's final"

"understood I'll tell the chief"

"thanks I don't want to be the one to tell him"

well they meet a new species and unfortunately for them they were on the unfriendly side of things and so they had yet another very fierce battle but this time most of it was on the bridge

"hey admiral watch your back"

"same to you John"

"hey Lt. I would duck if I were you"

"yo creeps leave the ship alone"

"I need some help over here unless you want flambéed Lt. Commander"

"admiral duck"

"I would do the same if I were you ensign"

"John get these things into the forcefield already or we're gonna be cooked"

"hey guys say hello to a phaser rifle"

"doctor you have such impeccable timing thank you for your help"

"hey idiots I would turn around if I were you"

"you don't have a chance against us"

"oh yea tell that to the Dominion and the Borg and they had more forces all at once than you did _or_ they took one of our own and used them against us you have neither so you really don't stand a chance against us after all we can be quite stubborn"

"I wouldn't say that if I were you human"

"well what do you know you know what species I am well put this in your computers we do _not _give up without a fight"

"that shall be your end"

"as _if_ you really don't know a thing about us so you really can't win so just give up and save yourself some loss"

"we will never lose to the likes of you"

and then suddenly without warning John gives out a cry in pure horror

"admiral NO!, leave her alone you creeps, doctor get the admiral out of here"

"I will if you can clear the path for me"

"no problem doctor I'll clear the path here and in the halls"

and so after a much longer fight in the bridge and a few minor skirmishes in the hallways they managed to get Jewel to sickbay and soon after that the enemy retreated but the crew was still on edge because of the fact that they could lose their commanding officer to severe injuries.

"how is she doctor?"

"not good captain she has multiple injuries about two or three of them potentially life threatening"

James just sighs at that "do what you can doctor I'll be on the bridge if you need me"

"understood"

well it took a few weeks but Jewel finally came too and when she did the doctor contacted the bridge to let them know


	8. warp, trouble, death and communications

"doctor to bridge she's waking up"

"I'm on the way"

and so James gets their and Jewel was quickly updated on what she'd missed. A short time later the crew got together to celebrate six and a half years of surviving the Delta Quadrant mainly in tact

"well it looks like we might just survive all the way after all"

"looks like doesn't it but we might not make it home in seven years after all maybe seventy but not seven"

"Lt. think you can continue working on the warp engine designs and see if we can go any faster and not overheat?"

"I'm working on it admiral just give me a few more weeks to three months and I should be finished"

"understood keep up the work because it looks like we're gonna need all the warp capabilities that we can get"

"aye sir"

well a few weeks later they were attacked yet again but this time it was only because they were trespassing in a new groups area and they didn't know that so once that was explained it was all good.

Well they reached the seven year mark fairly well and as it turned out the Lt. had discovered a few problems after the three initial months of work so he continued and on the seven year anniversary he could finally declare the new warp technology able to be used and he told the admiral that just as she was about to suggest warp nine for a few hours

"ensign same heading but lets increase to warp nine for a bit see if we can't cut down the time it takes us by a few years or months"

"admiral I have a better suggestion"

"what is it Lt.?"

"I say we go at warp thirteen for four hours and then drop to warp ten until you feel we should go back to impulse power and the reason why I said four hours is because the higher you go the faster the warp engine heats up and in all my tests that's how long warp thirteen lasts at least if you don't want to completely lose the warp engine."

"do it ensign"

and so they stayed at warp thirteen for four hours and then drop to warp ten unfortunately for them they had a little run in with the borg and they were definitely on the do not try and get home with their technology list. So instead what they had to do was try and outrun them or at least stay alive long enough for them to lose interest of course that is not an easy feat considering the fact that the borg did not like Starfleet at all so that meant that the crew was in for a long battle and of course there was no backup whatsoever.

"ensign see if we can't use the same technique that we've been using for cloaked ships on the borg"

"that's what I've been trying to do admiral but every move I make they counter it with an even better move we may just be assimilated after all"

"stow that talk right now ensign we are _not_ being assimilated if I have anything to say about it after all we survived wolf 359 and these past seven years in this region of space I think we can survive the borg here even though we're alone"

"she's right guys ensign hard to port and then Lt. lets see how they like sonic phasers"

well it actually works and they were glad about it unfortunately the battle became more intense and Jewel was sent into yet another coma

well the crew was very discouraged they had reached the eight year mark but without a lot of hope of coming out of it alive as Jewel had been in a coma for a year so they had all taken heavy hits of doubt and they also had been less organized in fact the chief actually broke his own rules about warp power and they were at warp thirteen for seven hours instead of four it cost them about two weeks while the repairs were going on but at least their commanding officer was still alive even if they didn't know it. The doctor had just finished up some paper work when he thought he heard a sound coming from Jewel's bed but he knew it wasn't possible as she was in a permanent coma and would be declared dead as soon as they were at Starfleet medical they just had to wait until they could get home to confirm that she had died but when it happened again he decided to check it out and he found out that Jewel was really alive

"admiral but how you died over a year ago"

"what are you talking about doctor?"

"you've been in a coma for a year admiral I was just waiting until we could get you to Starfleet medical for final checks before declaring you dead"

"man I've missed a lot haven't I well might as well go to the bridge"

"not so fast sir you've been in a coma for a year like I said you are staying in bed until I say so"

"doctor my place is on the bridge I'm going and that's final"

"very well just don't strain yourself too much I don't want to have to see you again so soon after waking up from a coma because you did something stupid"

"understood doctor"

and so Jewel walks to the nearest turbolift and easily gives orders to get to the bridge and once there she hears an order that she decides to countermand as is her right as the commanding officer of the vessel

"belay that Lt. see about heading for home warp thirteen I say it's time we got out of this Quadrant"

they all turn shocked to hear her voice as they thought they'd never hear it again

"admiral but how?, you were in a coma"

"I know unfortunately my body was too weak to reveal that it was fully functioning so instead my mind put me into a forced coma so that my body would get a chance to heal without all the stress of a normal day of being a commanding officer I never meant to make you think you'd lost me but that's just the way my body decided to react"

"it's good to have you back admiral how about you take back your seat while I just stay in the background"

"thank you James well ensign you heard my order engage"

"with pleasure sir"

and so they do exactly that hoping to get home soon. A few weeks later they ran into some old 'friends' call Velnrons so they had to take care of them and since they had the training they easily took care of them with very little damage. Well they reached the eight and a half mark and they were talking to Starfleet command as to update them


	9. death, mourning and return

"we hope to be home in about six months maybe a little longer if we decide not to tax the engines but we definitely will be home before the ten year mark"

"that's good to hear admiral everyone misses you a lot in fact the Enterprise is wondering if they could know exactly where you'll end up so that they can act as a personal escort back to Earth"

"unfortunately we don't know that ourselves right now but once we do know we'll give you a call so anything else you want to know about before we sign off?"

"yes tell us about how things have been going since you came out of your coma"

"sure well we…"

suddenly the ship shook like crazy and a Lt. spoke up

"hey admiral we're under attack"

"hard to port Lt. see if we can't scare them with the pulse torpedoes"

"ready when you are sir"

"fire"

well it doesn't work like they'd hoped it would

"all right plan B fire the sonic phasers and then it's plan beta 39 for now if need be we'll change it"

"yes sir"

well things start taking a real turn for the worse

"admiral we're losing maneuverability capabilities"

"try and compensate ensign we can't afford to lose those abilities and see if we can't boost our shields any we're gonna need it"

"sorry sir no can do it looks like our shields are staying where they are for now"

"keep trying Lt. Anesel, Lt. Parson see if you can't get a weapons lock and fire everything we've got at them"

"the tracking mechanism has been destroyed we can't lock onto targets as easily as we need to sir"

"keep trying Lt. we've _got_ to get them off our tails and this ship to the Alpha Quadrant"

"sir we're losing the main engine"

"engine room keep that engine as functional as possible we need it to get home"

"on it admiral"

"sir it looks like we've lost all power to maneuverability we can't go much any where's anymore we're cooked"

"not if _I_ have anything to say about it keep trying to gain maneuverability we are _not_ losing this ship is that clear?"

"yes sir"

and so the battle continues with Starfleet overhearing it until one large explosion and then nothing but pure silence. The silence lasted for about fifteen minutes when Lt. Barcaley decided to try and reopen communications

"Starfleet command to Jewel respond please…Starfleet command to Jewel respond please…Jewel this is Starfleet command do you read us?"

he tries for several more hours until he's ordered to stop by his commanding officer

"enough Reg they're gone"

"but…"

"no Reg they haven't answered since that explosion face it they're not coming home even though we'd hoped they would that is no longer an option"

Reg just sighs in defeat knowing his commanding officer is correct "yes sir"

"I will be informing the president and he will decide when the memorial will be held on that day this place will be closed down as will most of Starfleet I suspect only those still in space can't rest for a long period of time but I'm sure that they will have a time of mourning"

an ensign fresh out of the academy who had been regularly updated on Jewel and her crew as the academy had news of them practically every six months if not every few weeks spoke up

"I don't think I want to know what will happen on the _Enterprise_ as that's the ship the admiral served on right before she got her command"

"oh Picard is not going to take this easily at all"

and so the captain went straight to the president's office knowing that he was still up despite the fact that it was pushing close to midnight and so he knocked and was acknowledged

"yes captain what do you need"

"sir I have some news regarding admiral Jewel and her crew"

"what is it captain?"

"they're gone sir destroyed in battle"

"are you sure of this?"

"yes sir my team and I have just heard the explosion during their communiqué"

"the president sighs at that "very well I will have the memorial service date ready by tomorrow morning in the meantime please inform your men that they are to keep this a secret until everyone can be informed of the loss"

"yes sir…sir what are you going to do about captain Picard?, he _was_ her commanding officer before she took her own command after all"

"I'm honestly not sure captain but I'll think of something in the meantime do as I've told you"

"yes sir"

and so he goes back to his men

"what did the president have to say captain"

"for now we are to keep their loss a secret he'll inform us when the memorial is taking place an I assume that that is when the others will be informed of our loss so make sure you don't tell anyone even your family is that understood?"

"yes sir"

and so a few weeks later the president held the memorial service for the lost crew by making an announcement first

"would I have all of Starfleet's attention please a few weeks ago Starfleet got a transmission that everyone was glad to hear it was from admiral Jewel stating that they hoped to be home soon unfortunately during that communiqué a battle erupted forcing the admiral into action approximately fifteen minutes into battle all communications to the ship was lost, an officer tried for several hours to reestablish communications but he failed" the president paused for a bit to gain control of his emotions and hide his sigh of regret "as of last night the _USS JEWEL_ has been declared destroyed and her crew lost today will be a day of mourning for those on Earth for those in space I urge you to find a time to mourn the loss for a brief moment President of the United Federation of Planets out"

with that the message was ended and the rest of the people shocked but none more so than the Enterprise and what was worse was that no one wanted to wake up Picard for the bad news

"as second in command of this vessel I'll take responsibility to wake him up to inform him of what's happened"

"I am sorry sir but I cannot allow that"

"what do you mean Data?"

"simply this sir the captain was…close to the admiral and may not be able to control any emotional outburst therefore I am the best person to tell the captain should he need to be restrained"

"fine but let him know he's needed on the bridge to enact the mourning protocols and _I'm_ the one who gets to inform him exactly who Starfleet has lost"

"yes sir"

and so Data goes to the captains quarters an wakes him up

"yes Mr. Data what is it"

"we've lost a ship sir you're needed on the bridge"

Picard loses it for about a minute than regains control

"very well Mr. Data give me five minutes and I'll be ready to go"

a few minutes later they reach the bridge and Picard could tell it was serious by the look Riker was giving him

"what's going on number one Mr. Data said that we've lost a ship"

"yes sir it's…it's admiral Jewel sir we've lost her ship and crew I don't know exact details but apparently it happened in battle"

"very well at fourteen hundred hours there will be a moment of mourning everyone will be able to mourn more on their own time right now I need everyone to perform to the best of their abilities"

"captain I think you need to make the announcement now it's 1350 hundred hours now"

"very well all hands this is the captain speaking moments ago there was an announcement made to all Federation vessels a few weeks ago the _USS JEWEL_ was destroyed in battle with all hands lost at fourteen hundred hours I am declaring a moment of silence for that lose you are to find your own time to mourn them after words after all we're still a Starfleet vessel and we still have a mission to complete that is all"

well the crew on Voyager was a bit different since they were actually closer to what was going on emotionally

"what now admiral they're gone"

"so were we once Chakotay you know that so by the way I've been meaning to ask how's Seven been?"

"oh not much just having our first born in about five months plus she's still one of the best teachers for quantum mechanics"

"Seven's pregnant and you didn't tell us?"

"yes admiral we were debating on how to tell you when this happened Seven called me just now and said that since she's showing the academy already knows and stated that we might as well have some good news to go with the bad"

"I'm happy for you guys Tom find the Enterprise and meet up with them"

"Tuvok see if you can't contact them so that they know we're coming"

well Spock was on Vulcan visiting his mother when he found out

"I must go to Earth the Romulans can manage without me for a little while"

"no you're needed on Romulus"

"mother I am needed on Earth I am the logical choice"

"now that Starfleet knows why you are here they would agree with me that you should stay on Romulus"

"mother I have mind melded with captain Picard as such I can tell his emotions better Starfleet will need me"

"Picard has the strength of both you and your father and I feel that he will need it in the coming days your place right now is on Romulus"

"very well I will go back for now"

meanwhile Jewel and her crew were very much alive but they were beat up physically, mentally and emotionally plus the ship was in bad shape as well

"chief see if we can't salvage the engine, Lt. try and get basic weapons and shielding up"

"they're up admiral"

"are communications back up yet?"

"no sir they still need a lot of work on" said Parson annoyed that his repairs were still not working on the ships communications when he knew for a fact that they should

"keep on it Lt. we need them back up and running as soon as possible thanks to the explosion that lost our communication with them Starfleet has probably declared us dead"

"it'll be my top priority"

"thank you Lt."

"OK James I need constant updates on this ship we're going home and we're gonna be in the Gamma Quadrant if not exactly home at the nine year mark"

"than lets get to it admiral everyone is ready to go home"

"ensign head for home warp thirteen"

"aye sir"

well a few weeks later the chief had a surprise ready for them and he came up to the bridge to reveal it

"ensign go to warp nineteen and stay there for three hours"

"we don't have warp nineteen sir"

"actually we do I would have gone up to twenty while upgrading and repairing but I didn't want to destroy us so I had to do nineteen"

"ensign do it"

"yes sir"

Well at the nine year mark after all the battles and trials they had to go through to survive in the Delta Quadrant they made it to the Gamma Quadrant and was greeted by the Dominion cordially if not completely friendly and they stayed there long enough to resupply and get a basic update on Starfleet as they had lost the ability to communicate with Starfleet six months earlier and discovered captain Sisko was back then finally they went through the wormhole an saw a piece of home after nine long years. On DS9


	10. returns, questions and trouble

"captain there's an unidentified ship that just passed through the wormhole the weird thing is, is that it has a Starfleet signature but I thought that the next ship was in two months when colonel Kira Nerys comes back from Cardassia and even though we had high hopes of the _JEWEL_ coming home we lost that when we lost touch with them as they were fighting heck the last sound that was heard was the destruction of that ship" said O'Brian who was very confused at the moment

"you're absolutely right chief on screen"

"sir it appears visual communication is not possible"

"than do audio but make contact with them"

"audio is available, hailing and they're answering my general hail"

"OK this is captain Sisko of DS9 identify yourself please"

meanwhile they were working on communication issues again on the _JEWEL_

"Parson see if we have visual back" said Jewel "we need them to see us and us to see them"

"sorry admiral still down" said Parson after the fifteenth try

she talks under her breath "stupid screen" she then asks a question "do we at least have audio?"

"yes sir we do"

"than answer the hail back and keep working in visual"

"yes sir"

and so they hear Sisko and Jewel replies back

"this is admiral Jewel of the Federation Starship Jewel"

"I'm sorry but those people are dead, killed in battle"

Jewel gives the signal to cut audio and it is "what now James? they think we're dead and with good reason actually"

"I don't know admiral"

suddenly Parson gives out a shout

"yes!, visual capabilities are back"

"excellent work Parson put them on screen"

"with pleasure admiral"

and so they finally see a friendly face after nine years

"captain request permission to dock" asked Jewel finally able to see him and very glad to see a familiar uniform

"request denied you haven't given me sufficient proof that it's you in fact I think you're imposters after all no Starfleet officer uses whatever it is you have plus we have audio evidence of the _JEWEL_'s destruction"

he then ends communications and is seething

"who do those people think they are?"

"I don't mean to interrupt but what if it's really them sir?" asked O'Brian wondering if it really was them after having actually seeing them

"what proof would they have chief? it's been six months since that battle"

"let me ask the admiral a question with an answer only she would know"

"what for?"

"because I served with her briefly sir so I know certain things that you don't and they're things she knows as well"

"very well but be careful what you ask"

"yes sir"

and so hailing frequencies are reopened and O'Brian asked a very _particular_ question that applied only to the admiral "if you're really admiral Jewel than answer this, didn't I get onto you a hundred times for being distracted on a certain day before I fully comprehended what that day meant to you?"

"no chief you only got onto me twelve times Lt. Commander Data got onto me about fifty times but that was because I was working on some extremely delicate circuitry and Lt. Commander La Forge ultimately had to relieve me because I was too distracted plus later on the bridge while you were giving commander Riker a report on something captain Picard gave me an order and I called him captain Anegal without realizing it"

well O'Brian faints at that answer because it was so detailed that it could only be her five minutes later he woke up

"are you OK Miles?" asked Bashir for a very good reason

"besides a headache yea"

"that would be from the monitor you hit after you fainted"

well O'Brian stands up to see Jewel still on the screen

"are you OK?"

"I'm fine what about you and your crew you've been declared dead for six months"

"we're fine chief very glad to be talking with those in Starfleet and very glad to be home"

"what happened to you anyways why did you make us think you were dead?"

"it wasn't intentional we lost long rang communication abilities during the battle and it's still not back up"

well Sisko interrupts "chief are you telling me that's really admiral Jewel?"

"yes sir I am"

"in that case you're allowed to dock admiral an then if you could come to OPS we have much to discuss you need to report in to Starfleet command oh and uh keep the non regulation weapons behind please"

"fine we will for now"

and so they dock and Sisko actually decides to meet them on the Promenaed and instantly sees how uncomfortable they are in a large crowd.

"come on we're going to the conference room instead of OPS you'd only be worse in there with people crowding you"

and so they go to the conference room and once communications with Starfleet command are established Jewel gives them a full debrief and they debrief Jewel as well and right when that's finished intruder alarms go off


	11. search, fight, weapons and seperation

"James you go left while I go right we meet in the Promenaed in twenty minutes twenty-five if you or I take the long route"

"actual location?"

"Quarks I guess and of course you know what happens is you don't report in"

"right back at you admiral"

well twenty-five minutes later James runs up to Quarks to see the admiral trying to catch her breath

"anything…James?"

"no…you?"

"nothing" she hits the bar in frustration when they hear very bad news from a Bajoran security officer

"Odo is down!"

they get to his location as he wakes up

"Odo what happened?" asked Sisko obviously concerned about him being knocked out somehow

"the intruder got me from behind when I was checking the cargo hold"

Jewel growls at that knowing how hard it is to hurt Odo "that's it this intruder is as good as knocked out for a good five hours if I catch him, James maximum stun"

"gladly"

"you and I are doing a level by level search if you find him shoot, no time limit but check in every half hour"

"yes sir"

as it turned out the intruder wasn't very far and threatened to kill Garak if they didn't meet his demands

"I managed to take down the changeling though it took me a few tries I can easily kill this Cardassian"

as the intruder was boasting Jewel got in front of the intruder while James snuck behind him suddenly James spoke up

"look behind you"

the intruder turns and gives Jewel the opportunity to stun him

"good work James"

"you too"

unfortunately the intruder had friends and they tried to get other civilians but due to many years in training especially the first two years of using bows and arrows James and Jewel had split second timing and took out the other intruders before they could harm the civilians

"so, think the brig can hold the many James?"

a Bajoran officer speaks up

"we'll _make_ it work they hurt our boss they deserve to be locked up for a bit"

"works for me" replied Jewel glad that they were going to be punished

and so basic repairs are made and then her crew heads to Earth for additional repairs and new orders

once on Earth they had a meeting with the President

"first of all I want to congratulate all of you on surviving what had to be the hardest years of you lives second I was informed by captain Sisko that you have non regulation weapons on your ship could you explain that please?"

"certainly Mr. president it was so that we could survive on a desert like planet for two years these weapons are called bows and arrows and with your approval I would like knowing how to use them part of the requirement to be part of my crew"

"how long has your crew used them?"

"six years Mr. president"

"than by all means that's allowed and I'll even go one step further I'm making the basic use of bows and arrows a required course in the academy starting next year"

"thank you Mr. president"

"you guys look like you're not comfortable without them weapons so before we do anything else get your weapons off your ship I'll let security know I've approved it"

they all look very relieved to hear that they could get their bows an arrows which had become a part of them in the past six years

"admiral Jewel to USS JEWEL five to beam up"

and so they got their weapons and then by some unspoken agreement only Jewel and James went back down meet the president in his office

"since it's been a while since you've been around a lot of people and done anything besides surviving and getting home I'm assigning you to the demilitarized zone for at least one year so that you can get used to working with people again"

"if I may make a suggestion sir?"

"go ahead"

"I suggest you split the crew up for six months an then we can come back together and do our original mission of exploring"

"but wouldn't that disrupt the unity of your crew?"

"actually it won't sir because since we've lived together for nine years we know each other quite well"

"of course but you will still be in small groups so you can support each other"

"thank you Mr. president"

well once the meeting was over the went back to the ship and in the food area had a shipwide meeting where there were initially protests of being separated

"OK do you want a year of boarder patrol or being separated for six months than exploring like we use to come on guys we've been together _nine_ years and in a way most ships aren't we survived the Delta Quadrant nothing but death can separate us besides we'll still be together sort of he's keeping us in small groups so that we can support each other"

a timid ensign speaks up

"so it's only for six months?"

"yes and as a bonus I managed to get those that were fresh out of the academy on the Enterprise and Voyager and the Voyager crew can help because they went through the same thing except they were out of contact for most of the journey and it only took them seven years instead of nine and captain Picard is also an excellent captain plus if needed you can talk to counselor Troi who's half Betazed"

"what about the rest of us?" asked a Lt. who had every right to be a little concerned since it had been a long time since they had been apart and it was going to be scary for them

"the assignments were pretty random but like I said earlier you'll be with at least three other people from this crew"

well a few days later the crew wither went to where their new homes would be for six months or on ships that would take them to their assignments and the _USS JEWEL_ was left docked for complete repairs and upgrades. Two months later on the _ENTERPRISE_


	12. losses, troubles and reunions

"ensign Keller would you take us to 10,000 kilometers of the asteroid field?" asked Picard knowing that to go through it would be suicidal

"10,000 kilometers aye"

and so they get to that distance an scan the field and come up with only one possible solution

"Data I want you to take a shuttle and see if you can navigate that field if you can give us the exact same route"

"yes captain"

well Geordi monitored Data from the bridge with the code Jewel had given him when he lost the signal "La Forge to Data respond please…La Forge to Data respond…Data this is La Forge answer me now please…La…" he sighs in defeat "bye Data I'll miss you"

"Geordi what's going on?"

"Data's gone captain I was monitoring him using Jewel's code and the signal disappeared"

"understood we will uh…we will find a way around the field"

three months later on _VOYAGER_ a simple survey almost turned to disaster if not for Lt. Sandel's quick thinking and all over the quadrant the crew of the Jewel readapted to life in Starfleet and working with others.

A month after Voyager was saved Jewel was actually starting to see some progress in the beginnings of the new program that would teach academy students how to use bows and arrows

"well things are finally picking up Lt. you seem to be the most comfortable with this new routine why?"

"well after seeing how your aim has improved immensely I figured that maybe there was something to these new weapons after all sir"

"you're partially correct Lt. but it's not just the weapons that made my aim improve"

"than what was it sir?"

"where we had to use them forced all of my crew to adapt and learn how to effectively use the bow and arrow we had to practice until we got the use down to perfection"

"what do you mean you were forced to adapt and learn how to effectively use the weapon?"

"simple my crew and I were stranded on a desert like planet for two years and these weapons allowed us to hunt for our food, and with the food available we could survive long enough to get off the planet"

"well than I say let's continue work and get these weapons down well enough to teach all the academy students"

"easy there Lt. you're just going to learn the basics like the academy students are I don't want you trying to do advanced stuff all I want you and the cadets to know is basic uses of the bow and arrow, how to use them safely and how to aim if they're ever assigned to my crew permanently or temporarily I will work on the moving targets with them is that understood"

"yes ma'am" they all said knowing that it was one rule that they would never be allowed to break

finally the six months passed and they all went back to Earth to go back home and update each other and just be a family again of course as Jewel predicted it was as if the six moths had never happened

"so I hear you're the representative for those serving on the Enterprise how was it?"

"good for the most part"

"what didn't any of you like?"

"the memorial we had for Lt. Commander Data"

"Data's gone?"

"yes while trying to navigate through an asteroid field"

"understood"

and so she found out how all the assignments were and then she mourned Data's loss for a day

well a few weeks later Jewel had a team up with her former crew to help with a relief effort

"hello captain it's been a while"

"yes it has admiral how are you and your crew doing now that you're back home and mostly acclimated to working with people again?"

"we're all fine Picard I heard what happened I'm sorry for your loss"

"thank you so um do you know exactly what we're supposed to be doing on this relief assignment?"

"not really all I know is that we're supposed to give them supplies but other than that I have no further orders what about you?"

"I'm afraid I'm in the same boat admiral"

"typical we would have to face unknown situations that are going to be hard to deal with very well I'll see if we can't think of some sort of attack plan on my ship"

"than I shall do the same admiral after all we should both be prepared for anything on this sort of mission even battle"

"yes we should I'll tell you our plan once we have it"

"and we shall do the same admiral"

and so they both think up a good plan and put it into action in fact they actually didn't need any contingency of battle but they had it in place just in case and once that was done they went there separate ways knowing for a fact that they were needed to do other assignments like protecting the neutral zone

"ensign to the neutral zone warp thirteen and if it becomes desperate go up to warp fifteen but no faster than that we don't want to come up so fast that we can't slow down in time to make sure we're ready for battle"

"with pleasure sir"

and so they head to the neutral zone and Geordi is seeing how fast they were going and he's shocked to see the speed

"captain the admiral is going faster than recommended speed and at a speed that no other ship is capable of in fact after a quick scan they can go up to warp nineteen"

"warp nineteen but that's impossible no ship can go that fast it would tear them apart in fact the speed that they're going at right now is too fast for that frame to handle"

"I don't know how sir but it looks like they've not only reinforced the materials but it looks like they did something to the engine to make it go that fast and not really affect the ship once I've finished my scans I'll have Data…"

they all go silent at that name knowing that he was gone yet they were still coping with his loss

"never mind sir I'll just ask the admiral if I could talk to the person who designed that engine and see if he can explain exactly how he managed to make the ship so fast of course I'm not going to do that since it's probably so that they could get home faster and besides I wouldn't know exactly what I would have to do for such a modification"

"good idea Geordi ensign get us out of here and to Vulcan we have an ambassador to pick up and escort to a peace conference"

"aye sir"

and so they go to Vulcan and then to the conference. After a few weeks they met up with Jewel and her crew at DS9

"so admiral what brings you here?"

"basic supply run plus after all the excitement that's been going around for our crew lately we needed a break what are you doing here captain?"

"we're also here for supplies and then we're heading back to Earth for some much needed upgrades that can only be done there"

"so I hear Geordi is interested in our modifications to our engines"

"yes and to be honest I'm also a bit curious as to how you can go that fast without tearing the ship apart"

"well I don't know all the details but according to my chief engineer the modifications weren't too complicated it was just a matter of seeing what the ship could already do and then find a safe way to boost the power of the engine and also increase the speed but he says that there are a few complicated steps that have to be taken if you're going to upgrade the engine"

"I think I'll just leave you to the fast speed I think that Geordi just wants to learn about different modifications that could be made to engines since that's his field of interest I don't think he plans on doing those modifications to our ship"

"it's good for him to have some curiosity that means he's willing to learn anything"

well suddenly they hear a commotion and turn to see two of Jewel's officers on the ground

"what's going on you two?"

"sorry admiral we kinda got carried away with the chase and when I went to tag him I didn't stop in time to avoid crashing in to him thus the reason you heard us crash"

"oh guys how many times must I tell you that when you play this game you must adapt according to the environment you're in?"

"we know always be ready to change speed, course and how long you play"

"exactly guys now than keep on playing but please be careful I don't want Odo to get onto you for no real reason"

"no problem" the Lt. on top of the ensign brings out a walkie-talkie "this is the Lt. Starfleet wins round five of alien vs. Starfleet"

"good job that was the last one OK get back to base then we'll switch off oh and that makes Starfleet four aliens one"

the two officers leave

"admiral what was that just now?"

"oh that's our version of tag it's a form of training for us"

"I see does captain Sisko know what's going on on his station?"

"yes Picard he does I asked permission before I let my crew do this and Odo knows about this as well so all he really does is make sure that we don't get out of hand"

"I thought you were here to relax"

"we are relaxing captain we only have ten officers at a time playing the game the rest do whatever they want that involves taking a break"

"so how long does the game last?"

"until either Starfleet or the aliens have five wins"

"that's an interesting rule admiral I wonder if we could join in"

"sorry captain but I'm afraid that you wouldn't understand everything that we do in this game"

"oh come admiral it's a simple game of tag"

"actually it's not as simple as I make it sound only Odo is ever allowed to join if he wants and for right now he's not playing for the simple reason that he thinks this will distract him from his job"

"understood admiral"

well soon Jewel realized that it had been six months since the loss of Data and she was depressed because little did anyone know it but Jewel and Data with Picard's permission would have been together again for three weeks as a training session for her crew because even though they were very adept at pretty much any trouble that came there way they needed Data to teach them how to handle very unexpected problems that needed thinking of his speed or if not his speed at least as close to it as they could manage through simulations


	13. surprises, healing and reunion

"ensign set course for starbase 146 warp two"

"course laid in sir"

"engage"

"aye sir"

"Data would you…" Jewel sighs "Lt. would you make sure that we're ready for a simulation in three hours?"

"yes sir"

"admiral no offense but you seem distracted"

"I am James you see Data was supposed to be with us today for three weeks instead he's destroyed"

"I see well I hope that we can all adapt to his loss"

well it became the one year anniversary and everyone was affected by it the Enterprise actually stayed in dock that day and the station they were at didn't even try to make them leave and on the Jewel those that had served with Data were allowed to leave their shifts early with no reprimand since everyone knew what had happened and why they were acting all depressed. Well a Lt. on board a science vessel was on board a shipping vessel seeing as how they were having trouble with their engines and the Lt. just so happened to be an engineer on board the science vessel and seeing as how they were headed to DS9 for their new chief the Lt. was the one currently in charge and boy did she get a surprise all ships had been informed of Data's loss because he was not only an android but also one of the commanding officers of the Enterprise plus before he had been "killed" he had actually saved a few delegates lives.

"excuse me how much is this android?"

"he's not for sale yet"

"why not?"

"because he's bad merchandise he looks like a wreck we can't sell him like that"

"well how long have you had him?"

"a year if we can't fix him soon we're going to scrap him"

"why not just let me do it for you?"

"I didn't think you Starfleet officers were like that"

"normally we aren't but there's another reason why I want him"

"what's the reason?"

"well I'm an engineer I want to study him for a bit and then once I'm done I'll just scrap him who knows what we could learn from him"

"well it gets him off our hands finally very well give up your career and Starfleet can have him"

"sorry not happening and how did you know I don't have any money on me?"

"we know you people fine if you won't give up your career you stay with us we could use someone who's good with engines"

"not happening either"

and so they battle for quite a while until finally they reach a compromise with the permission of her captain they would get some metal that they needed to repair the ship and she would teach them a little bit about what they could do to keep their engines up and running in exchange for Data and it was decided that the exchange would happen at the same time. The Lt. made the repairs and for five hours taught the people on the vessel about proper maintenance of course, what her ship didn't know was that it was Data she was keeping that to herself so that the aliens wouldn't know the real reason why she wanted him, all she told her captain was that she wanted to bring something aboard that looked to be a very interesting object for her to study for a bit.

"Lt. Karen to Vanel one person and one object to beam aboard"

"stand bye Lt. we're still having a little trouble synchronizing the teleporters"

"standing bye"

and so she's finally beamed aboard directly to the bridge and at the same time the aliens got their metal

"thank you captain for the metal"

"and thank you for letting the Lt. get what she wanted whatever it is that she's covering up right now"

"well that's for her to tell you if she wants good bye"

"good bye"

finally communications are cut

"OK Lt. what is it that you're hiding?"

"it's Lt. Commander Data captain he wasn't destroyed but he's also not functioning right now we need to get to the nearest place we can stop so that I can repair him preferably a place with someone who knows him if not at least DS9 since Dr. Bashir is used to strange situations"

"Lt. you know that Data is gone"

"just look at him captain and you'll see that I'm right"

the captain does and goes white with shock

"but how he was reported destroyed in an asteroid field"

"that's what I'd like to know myself but right now all I care about is getting him repaired"

"in that case Lt. set course for DS9 warp three"

"course and speed laid in sir"

"go"

"Lt. I hope you're right about this and that he can be fixed"

"I hope so too captain because I think it's time for the crew of the Enterprise to be united again after all I have a feeling that they miss Lt. Commander Data and will be pleased to see him again"

well it didn't turn out exactly like planned due to small issues but they got to the station a year and a half after they had gotten Data back and only Bashir and the crew knew it was Data everyone else thought it was a new science project and a few days later Data was back unfortunately it wasn't without some problems for about two months he didn't even know where he was don't think about asking him his name he actually had to be given one by the two of them and though Sisko recognized him he was told that Data had no memories so Starfleet had yet to be contacted due to the fact that they didn't want to give them false hopes. Over the six months that they had gotten Data they repaired what they could when they could and then when it had been almost two and a half years since things happened they finally got the break they were looking for Jewel coming to the station for some officers that had been transferred including Data because they had actually given a false report and thus got "Mark" transferred with the Lt.

well it had been almost two and a half years since they lost Data and the Jewel was at DS9 for supplies and to get some officers to take them to the neutral zone for their assignments and one of them turned out to be Data unfortunately most of his memory chips were still scrambled though Bashir and a few others had been working on it they hadn't gotten very far and the Lt. who had done the most work explained that to the admiral

"maybe you could finish what we started Admiral we've done all we can but since we really don't know him we really couldn't do much"

"I'll see what I can do but then I'm gonna need someone from the Enterprise"

as it turned out Jewel could fix what Bashir and the others couldn't and once she was finished she woke Data up and naturally he was confused once he sat up

"where am I?"

"welcome aboard my ship Data"

Data turns his head to see Jewel

"Admiral what am I doing on your ship?"

"Data do you remember anything about the past six months?"

"not entirely no for some reason some of my memory is missing"

"you've been considered dead for almost two and a half years Data you were on a trade ship and an officer was shocked to see you and did everything except give up himself and his career to get you back Doctor Bashir an a few others have been working on your memory since then whenever possible"

"I remember navigating the shuttle one moment and the next…I woke up in a strange room with a man in a doctors uniform looking at some charts but the rest is a blur"

"not all that surprising considering how scrambled your memory chips were I don't expect you to ever fully remember the past six months oh and the room you woke up in was DS9's medbay and the man you saw was Dr. Bashir"

"when can I return to the Enterprise?"

"once I can explain the situation to the president because like I said you've been dead for almost two and a half years but until then I need a navigator who can come up with suggestions at a moments notice know anyone like that?"

Data immediately understands and goes to the bridge and instantly sees why she needed him to navigate her current navigator was beyond exhaustion trying to cover all three shifts as the others were confined to quarters due to illness

"I will take over now Lt. get some sleep"

the Lt. replies half mumbling

"not 'til 'miral tells me 'm relieved"

"she ordered me to navigate you have been relieved"

well the Lt. persists until Data uses his version of a Vulcan nerve pinch to knock the Lt. out which surprises James

"what did you do to him?"

"I knocked him out with my version of a Vulcan nerve pinch captain it was the only way for the Lt. to finally get some rest"

Jewel comes in

"well since my shift is over an his quarters are next to mine I'll take him to bed"

once the captain and the Lt. were gone Jewel gave her orders "Data make sure we're on a heading towards the neutral zone that's where most of the transfers are"

Data checks and sees they're heading the wrong way

"changing course now"

once there they enter a battle zone OK so it was a minor skirmish at the moment but by monitoring communications it was quickly escalating into a full battle


	14. a fight, return and more trouble

"ensign show the Romulans some weaponry we developed in the Delta Quadrant two hundred meters off the port bow"

"yes sir"

and so they let off some pulse torpedoes and then Jewel opens communications

"Romulan warbirds that was a warning shot back off or we will directly aim at you"

"you're just one ship and not even a significant one at that"

"if that's the way you want to play it fine, ensign fire the pulse torpedoes two meters off the port bow and then fire the sonic phasers at their weapons array and then we'll see what they do next"

as it turned out that was all that was needed the Romulans retreated to their side of the boarder for the moment

"OK let's finish the transfers and get going ensign make sure to put regular torpedoes and phasers back online we will than do an inventory and tell engineering what we need"

"yes sir"

"OK Data go to starbase 135 once the last of the transfers here are finished that's where everyone but you are stationed we're to rendezvous with the Enterprise at wolf 359 once those transfers are done so that you can go back to Picard the Enterprise has been informed that you are in fact alive". And so a few days later Data was back aboard the Enterprise where he belonged and was naturally welcomed enthusiastically.

Two days later the Lt. that Data knocked out was back on duty complaining of sleeping wrong thus the neck pain

"actually Lt. Commander Data knocked you out ensign with his version of a Vulcan nerve pinch"

"that wasn't nice"

"he only did it because you were exhausted and being stubborn about the Admiral's orders given to you by Lt. Commander Data"

unknown to them two Romulan warbirds were in Federation space cloaked getting ready to attack Federation vessels for an invasion plus there were already several others posed to attack multiple Federation outposts and all before the Federation could do anything. Two hours after they flew by the two warbirds, all warbirds in Federation space got the signal to start the war unfortunately there was actually one tiny problem with the Romulans plan, the crew of the Jewel had developed sensors that automatically activated if they detect cloaked vessels seeing as how some the Delta Quadrant foes they had fought had cloaking abilities, furthermore due to an unusual situation they could hear people that were alive but invisible and that crew had detected the warbirds plus they had developed ways of fighting the enemy while they were cloaked. Two hours earlier on the Jewel

"Admiral we just passed two cloaked ships" said Parson who was the one currently on alert duty

"keep on our present course for now Lt. we wait until they make a move and then attack back"

"so attack pattern Delta 12 Admiral?" asked James getting set to take over the battle bridge at a moments notice

"no attack pattern Beta 9 we're just gonna let them make the first move"

"nice"

and so they wait for two hours and then they are attacked by the warbirds they had initially detected

"Shaflen, Jenkin attack pattern Beta 9"

"aye sir"

well it didn't turn out to be a successful as they'd hoped but they still did more damage to the Romulan warbirds than the warbirds did to them but just as they were about to get the vessels again the warbirds got backup and plenty of it twenty minutes later Jewel knew what she had to do

"we're out numbered Shaflen take us out of here"

"where to Admiral?"

"at the moment I really don't care just get away from the Romulan warbirds"

"aye sir"

and so after a fifteen minute battle they retreat and two hours later they receive news that DS9 was currently the staging grounds to fight back aka it was the Federations current headquarters

"Shaflen set course for DS9 warp 5"

"setting course for DS9 warp 5"

"engage"

and so two days later they get to DS9 and get a picture of how bad the situation is

"look at all the damage most have taken" said Parson shocked at how severely many were damaged

"it looks bad yes but hopefully it's not as bad as when Captain Picard was taken captive by the borg and they used him at wolf 359, now let Sisko know we're here then James and I are going to go aboard and find out where the meeting is taking place"

and so they get to the Promenaed and trouble arises from the start because most figure that the Jewel avoided being attacked or somehow bribed the Romulans to get away with no damage not knowing that they had been hit the hardest and with the most ships the rest decided to punch Jewel in the jaw or kick James in the stomach by the only two survivors of the _Melbourne_


	15. coming together and a plan

"that was for coming here unscathed" said the one that punched Jewel, as he was angry at the commanding officer of the ship not minding the fact that he punched an Admiral

"and the kick was for either bribing the Romulans or managing to completely avoid battle while the rest of us suffered"

just then Jewel's comm. Badge went off

"this is Jewel go ahead"

"admiral the Enterprise and Voyager have just arrived it looks like the Enterprise is out of commission the port nacelle is heavily damaged the starboard nacelle also looks damaged according to sensor readings they not only have emergency force fields in place but they're running on minimal life support Voyager is towing her but they also have some decent damage looks like they have no weapons basic shields and the port nacelle is running at half efficiency"

"thank you Lt. is there anything else I should know of ?"

"yes sir it looks like we took more damage than initially thought until further notice we're down to warp two plus we have no special shielding and absolutely no weapons"

"not even basic torpedoes or phasers?"

"nothing no weapons means no weapons sir"

Jewel just sighs at that "understood Lt. I want us back up to full operational status ASAP if that means people are on double shift than they're on double shift Jewel out"

She turns to James

"James I need you to oversee the repairs I'll go solo for this one"

"yes sir"

and so James heads back to the ship and Jewel turns to the nearest captain

"where's the meeting being held?"

"in the conference room in half an hour um how man ships attacked you?"

"about ten warbirds after the initial attackers got backup"

"wow and I thought the most that attacked anyone ship was three how long were they on you before you retreated?"

"twenty minutes and trust me we had to fight not only to keep our shields up but to escape the barrage of attacks we were up against"

and so half an hour later they were in the conference room and Sisko starts the meeting

"OK we're in a pretty bad situation right now, according to reports the Romulans have taken over Vulcan and the Klingon empire, colonel Kira is trying to keep the Cardassian empire afloat we've lost at least twenty-three ships and their crew and our flagship is out of commission I'm open to any suggestions right now no matter how crazy they are"

"what about attacking them at their home planet?" asked a Lt. of the _Ashlend_ having tried to fight the Romulans near the border

well that sparked a huge argument which everyone but Jewel took part of as she was thinking over all the information she currently had and still needed twenty-five minutes into the argument she speaks up in a calm manner

"how many ships are still operational?"

her calm voice silences the others and then one of the _MELBOURNE_ survivors speak up

"what good will knowing _that _do?"

"could someone just answer please?"

"including your ship and _VOYAGER_ there are twelve ships actually capable of doing anything but both need extensive repairs so we only have ten"

"does that include the _DEFIANT_?"

"yes it does"

she taps her comm. badge "James about how much longer will the repairs take?"

"if nobody stops to eat a quick bite another twelve hours"

"and for _VOYAGER_?"

"let me ask"

five minutes later she gets a reply

"if they keep up their pace about four hours they got shield and weapons back and they're working on the nacelle now"

"is there anything wrong with the ship that can wait?"

"for the Romulans we don't need specialized shielding or weapons and we can manage with warp five for a bit"

"if we just do regulation shielding and weapons _and_ get up to warp five how long will that take?"

"about five hours considering how much we've already done"

"do it I want to be ready in seven hours is that clear?"

"yes sir"

"Admiral what are you planning?" asked Picard wondering if his former ensign was about to do something crazy

"Captain Sisko what's the nearest location from here that we can take back with just twelve ships?"

"starbase 237 why?"

"because in seven hours we leave the station and start fighting back beginning with that station and then we work our way from there"

"but how do you know our plan will work?"

"I don't which is why we're going to have to work together"

the rest think about it weighing the pros and cons

"all right I'm with you _but_ we need an actual attack plan first"

and so two hours later they had a pretty decent plan in place

"OK if this doesn't work we do an immediate retreat and come back here and if need be I'll play decoy"

"how long should we wait before declaring you dead?"

"twelve hours if my ship isn't back in twelve hours we're gone unless I send a messenger here than wait as long as they tell you before declaring us dead"

unfortunately the attack plan doesn't work but the decoy pan works the two ships follow Jewel and leave the rest alone twelve hours after the last ship arrived they had waited long enough


	16. capture, freedom and more plans

"they're not back and it's the deadline" said the captain of the _FERREGUTE_ worried about them knowing how hard it would be to survive this long playing sole decoy having been forced to do that themselves about two years before Jewel and her crew came home

"very well as of 2240 hundred hours the crew of the _USS JEWEL_ is…"

"wait captain" said O'Brian "there's a shuttle coming into sensor range now"

it was the _scouter_ from the Jewel

"is there a place for them to land chief?"

"yes sir landing pad c"

"direct them to it"

in the shuttle craft the Lt. saw his directions "why didn't I hail? oh yeah they attacked me and destroyed communications I hope the _JEWEL_ is OK"

once he docked he went to the Promenaed and then _ran_ to the nearest turbolift almost knocking down Odo a few minutes later he reached OPS

"captain Admiral Jewel said the rest of the crew should be here in three hours I was sent ahead to tell you"

"thanks for informing me"

as it turned out though they wouldn't have to wait three hours the Romulan Empire declared the destruction of the _USS JEWEL_ two and a half hours after the Lt. arrived

"we have destroyed the ship that played decoy so that the others could escape know this we _will_ get the rest of the ships that tried the pathetic excuse of a rescue fleet"

the transmission ends and the group is silent for a few minutes

"where do I go now? my crew is dead"

"you'll serve with me Lt. on the _ENTERPRISE_" said Picard wanting to do something for Jewel

Janeway speaks up "hate to tell you captain but you have no ship"

"not entirely true Admiral" he taps his comm. badge "Mr. Data run system repair programs A-F and then tell me about how long it will take to do the rest of the repairs" he ends his talk with Data "in the meantime Admiral I think we need some new plans if we're to free the Federation and the others that are being oppressed"

two hours later Data finally reports back

"captain it will take a total of twenty-three hours eleven minutes to do the rest of the repairs if we are not attacked in that time period"

"then get started Data and see if you can't lower the repair time we need to be fully operational as soon as possible"

"aye captain"

well everyone continues planning and at the fifteen hour mark Data reports back in

"captain the repairs will be completed in two hours I would suggest that you and everyone else still up planning get some rest"

"very well Mr. Data Picard out"

and so that's exactly what the planning group does

Jewel wakes up with a huge headache and she looks around and doesn't see any of her crew but _does_ see what she could only guess where her fellow prisoners. Suddenly the door opens to reveal ambassador Spock plus the other occupants woke up at the sound of the door and the Romulans shove Spock into the room…_hard_ and Jewel runs up to him

"ambassador Spock are you OK?"

"I shall be fine"

she glares at the guards before they leave and then one of the Klingon prisoners speak up

"give me five minutes alone with those two and they will be dead"

a Starfleet officer speak up

"oh give it a rest Malgrok you've been saying that since you got here and it hasn't happened yet"

"I don't see you doing anything John"

"you know full well I can't fight them"

Jewel instantly sees his rank

"why can't you Lt?, I know full well you're trained to fight in the academy" replied Jewel angry that he wasn't willing to fight

"look I don't know who you think you are but you have no clue what they've done to me"

"you're right I don't know that they've done to you but I do know this you were trained to treat your superiors better and since I have the rank of Admiral I'd say that puts me in charge of the officers here in this room and all the officers here wherever here is"

that makes all the officers look up at her in shock

"you're an Admiral?"

"yes I am now than why don't you explain how things work here and we'll go from there"

and so they talk until she's taken to the interrogation room

"I hope you don't expect a rescue because we told Starfleet we destroyed your ship now answer the questions and we _might_ let you live on Romulus with full freedom"

well Jewel doesn't cooperate with him which actually makes the interrogator mad enough to severely beat her an hour after he began he was finished and sent her back to her cell and the others were shocked at how beat up she was

"Admiral are you OK?" asked one of the ensigns that were with some of the higher ranked officers

but she doesn't answer as she was beat into unconsciousness a few days later Bashir is shoved into the room and he is positively shocked to see Jewel

"admiral you're supposed to be dead"

"nope just captured and interrogated, now how did they get you?"

"on my way back from delivering emergency medical supplies to one of the few free Federation outposts"

"well I don't know about anyone else but I'd say it's time to escape this prison and take back this station for Starfleet"

"how do you know it's a Federation outpost" asked a Lt.

"simple I've been observing my surroundings so you up to it?"

everyone was and with careful planning and execution they take back the station in two hours

"I know declare this place a Federation outpost again" said Jewel once they had command of the command center and everyone cheered at that

"what's next admiral?" asked the captain of the station

"check all the systems then get a message to DS9 which is currently Starfleet headquarters"

"yes sir"

well it turned out that a lot of systems were messed up and it would take a while to take care of as they were under constant attack plus Jewel's crew used their skills to detect some officers that went cloaked after an accident in engineering while repairing the power core

well a few weeks later the group was working on basic defense systems when they were attacked by the Romulans

"hey admiral we're under attack"

"get what you can online and if possible see if we can't get any ships out of dock we can _not_ afford to lose this station"

"yes ma'am"

and so they battle for several minutes and then the Romulans retreat

"they're gone admiral"

"well they won't be for long I have a feeling that what we've just seen is just a prelude to an actual war I don't know when it will actually start but we have to be ready for it"

and so six months after they freed the station they actually got some good news

"hey admiral we have something of a defense system up and running"

"that's excellent ensign keep up the good work"

"hey admiral some of the techies are wondering how fast you want the ships to actually be out of dock unless repairs are needed"

"I want them up by the time this station has been free for a year we can't afford for this station to be defenseless for long"

"I'll let them know then"

well suddenly there was yet another attack

"hey admiral they're back"

"this is the third time this week get them off our backs guys we need to finish repairs especially communications after all Starfleet needs to know that a captured station has been freed"

"yes sir"

"hey admiral just before they left while you were busy elsewhere they threatened they be back with a stronger force and that the time will come when Starfleet and Romulus will be at war"

"just see about getting those systems up commander we need to get this place functional again I have a feeling this might be a pivotal point for Starfleet once they know this station is now under Starfleet control again"

"I'm on it admiral but it's a little hard to get the power regulated well enough for us to do continuous repairs"

"see if you can shunt power from an unneeded system and we'll work from there"

"I'll try sir but I'm making no promises"

"I know all I'm asking is for your best"

"hey admiral guess what I've discovered today"

"what James and make it quick you know we don't have a lot of time"

"fresh meat it looks like this place has been infested with some creature from Romulus a creature that's edible to humans"

"nice how hard is it to catch?"

"with a bow and arrow not too hard anything else and it could take a while"

"understood keep at it James and tell the others on our crew that they're on hunting duty when not on repair duty or on a rest shift"

"will do admiral"

and so they continue to repair and fight until finally they reach the one year mark

"well we survived a year on our own guys congratulations however this does not mean we can slack off we still have a lot of work ahead of us"

well with the one year mark passed they went on to see if they couldn't make it to year two

"hey ensign how are the repairs going?"

"not to bad Lt. but there are some areas that are troubling me"

"like what? maybe I can help"

"I don't know sir after all I don't want you to get mixed up in my problems"

"OK it looks like you haven't been around those that serve with admiral Jewel long enough if someone looks troubled we try and help them period so snap out of it and tell me what's wrong"

"it's the power converter sir I'm having trouble adjusting it to our needs"

"hm maybe I can help I know a thing or two about power converters kind of had to so that we could survive"

"if you're sure about it"

"I'm positive ensign"

"than thanks Lt."

and so for the next five hours the ensign and Lt. worked on the power converter until the Lt. decided it was time for a break

"OK ensign we're leaving this as is for now"

"but why?"

"simple we're both too exhausted to think about this right now"

"I don't feel exhausted"

"you miss understand me we're not physically exhausted we're mentally exhausted basically we can't exactly add up our numbers right now in a way that makes since"

"guess you're right we do need a break besides I'm actually a bit hungry"

"than lets go eat"

and so they go to the dining hall there and take a break meanwhile Jewel was in an office and very busy too busy to get a bite to eat in fact

"admiral you have to eat something before you pass out from hunger"

"sorry commander but that's not possible there's too much that we need to do so that we can not only contact a Federation outpost but also keep this base defended"

"I know that but if the commanding officer doesn't take the occasional break then they'll collapse and everyone else will panic or do you want me to get your doctor up here to relieve you?"

"OK commander that's a low blow you know that unless absolutely necessary the doctor won't relieve me of duty after my crew has been forced to pull double even triple shifts since this all began over nine years ago"

"that was when you were in the Delta Quadrant you're in the Alpha Quadrant now why don't you drop what you trained your bodies to do?"

"it's simple really you actually said it our bodies are trained to handle long shifts so we adjust automatically"

"fine be that way but just so you know I saw a Lt. of yours taking an ensign to a meal not five minutes ago and they were talking about what they could do about the power converter once they had a break for a meal"

"OK I'll admit that I have enforced break rules for certain things and if anyone is working on one problem for a certain amount of time they are to take a break before they fry their brains"

"you win admiral just make sure you're also taking breaks from being the commanding officer"

"I will in about five hours I've been at this for two and a half days now I need the break"

"good at least you're giving your body a rest how long is the break"

"I'm not allowed back in here for the next three days unless there's an emergency meeting taking place that needs all commanding officers"

"that's a good idea I think that if you were in here before than you would be tempted to go back to work"

"you're right about that"

well they reached the year and a half mark and celebrated by getting the last of the ships in dock orbiting the station ready to defend it at all costs


	17. repairs, fight, repairs, reunion

"well it took a year and a half but we finally have our defenses fully up and running"

"indeed we do admiral man did those attacks slow us down"

"I know and as far as I know war hasn't even been officially declared yet"

"well it will be soon if not by Romulus than by Starfleet"

"OK Lt. you know that we don't just declare war without good reason"

"why not we declared war on the borg didn't we?"

"yes we did but they attacked us first"

"and what about the Dominion?"

"same as the borg and we now have a truce if not exactly a peace treaty with them"

"you win admiral, you win"

well suddenly the proximity alarms went off

"identify the source"

"Romulan warbirds decloaking off the starboard bow of the _USS MENELANT_"

"I see tell the rest of our five ship fleet to get ready for more attacks"

"they're ready admiral and are just waiting for your orders"

"tell them that each commanding officer on board the ship is to give the orders I'll observe and tell them what to do if things get too hot for them to handle"

"right"

well with Jewel's crew they were already fighting without waiting for orders well sort of at the moment they were just finishing the preparations needed for battle

"ensign keep scanning for cloaked ships we can't let any get through our barriers again with the cloaks"

"on it captain"

"captain sonic phasers are ready at your discretion"

"in that case fire on the closest warbird attacking the Menelant"

"yes sir"

well a few hours into the fighting they actually disable a Romulan warbird and two Klingons three Vulcans and five Starfleet officers captured the ship for Starfleet and about twenty minutes later they called a retreat

"they're gone admiral"

"for now Lt. tell the engineers that I want that bird functioning by six months we'll take it to DS9 so that we can report in"

"yes sir"

and so the engineers quickly got a shift schedule going that if you weren't repairing the base you were working on the ship and if you weren't working on the ship you were sleeping and with that schedule in place they got the vessel almost completely repaired in five and a half months and Jewel asked for volunteers to go to DS9 which she knew would take two week even at warp five due to the fact that they didn't want to get there too quickly so they would drop out of warp when it would take them about a week at impulse.

"hey admiral we're at the one week spot"

"very well drop to full impulse and keep an eye out for trouble"

"will do sir"

and so they just drop their speed and get ready for a long journey knowing that no matter what they do they would have to be wary of both Romulan warbirds and DS9 defense systems once they reach they're destination seeing as how they _were_ in a stolen Romulan vessel

"sir we may have to go to warp again"

"what for? I thought my instructions of arriving at the two year anniversary were clear"

"they were sir but there have been some minor complications plus we're coming up on some Romulan vessels"

"try and shake them Lt. if you can't do so without disabling the time table than I'll consider going to warp for now lets make sure that they _don't_ know what's going on for now and lets see if we can't make them think that this ship is still theirs they can't know we're going to DS9 for help"

"we'll try admiral but I suspect that the other vessels told the Romulan empire that this is a captured vessel"

"well try and lose them Lt. we have to get in contact with Starfleet so that we can coordinate plans again"

"with pleasure admiral"

and so communications are cut and finally Jewel gets good news

"hey admiral we're there"

"good I'll be on the bridge soon" she cuts communications and leaves her quarters

well she goes to the bridge and gives her orders

"hail them guys lets see if we can't get them to listen to us"

"once the Klingons are finished I will sir you know how that goes"

"all too well ensign OK let's wait until they're finished than we'll contact them"

and so finally they were able to talk to Sisko sort of

well two years had passed since the loss of the _JEWEL_ anyone on DS9 was battle weary and battle worn as even the civilians had been forced to learn how to fight sine DS9 was almost constantly invaded and the officers were getting faster but no one was could beat the sole survivor of the _JEWEL_ in weapons speed due to his extensive training with both of his weapons. In OPS the alarms sounded…_again_

"chief this had better not be a false alarm or a populated area"

"negative sir it's two Klingon warbirds decloaking they have the routine supply room this month"

"tell them to dock and get the supplies in the cargo bay I'm going to tell Quark his food supply is here"

"it's still hard to believe he changed to actually cooking the food so that we have more power to shields and weapons"

"well he has and he told me recently that if the food didn't come soon he'd be down to the rations he synthesized for emergencies before he shut of the replicators"

and so the routine gets back to normal until a Romulan warbird show up

"captain we have a Romulan warbird in our space"

"take it out before reinforcements arrive you know only the _JEWEL_ knew how to fight this"

"on it sir"

surprisingly it doesn't work and then they receive an audio transmission

"DS9 this is admiral Jewel on board a stolen Romulan warbird cease fire"

well those in OPS don't believe the transmission and continues shooting until it's disabled a few minutes later thy hear the distinct sound of a Romulan teleportation but once it's finished they see three Starfleet officers a Klingon and one of the Vulcans that had been in another cell and then Jewel speaks up

"as I said it's a stolen Romulan vessel captain oh and by the way station 185 is free again has been about two years now but since communication is still down we had to tell you personally"

"well it's good to see you alive admiral" said Sisko "your Lt. is probably at Quarks right now if you want to get him"

"thank you captain"

and so Jewel sees her Lt. again for the first time in years and once he believed her it was a tearful reunion. A few days later those that had left were back with the Lt. and three Starfleet vessels and one Klingon warbird and then everyone gets ready for a long war.


End file.
